Disney Feast West&East: Day 10 Sea,Sand & Sun: Venice Beach

[WileyCoyote]

And not a lot else ...

It is Sunday today so a lie in is definitely allowed. I am up quite early and off to the much more reasonably priced laundry room which has more than one machine and its only $1 a time. The hoodies are finally washed and returned to their happy clean state , not to be worn again now until the journey home.


Everyone is up around 1030 so by 1130 we venture out for breakfast and try Mimis Café which is next door and Dibb recommended. Its busy and having been told a 10 minute wait , after half an hour Andy is ready to jib it as the lunch menu is appearing and we wanted breakfast. Finally we are called and yay, we can still have breakfast. We are pleased that we stuck it out. It’s a nice place , the food is delicious and plentiful and really reasonable. We have a Chipotle Breakfast Burrito (Andy) , Cinnamon French Toast with bacon( Me) and Pancake Shorts with either Sausage or bacon ( boys). Along with juice, sodas and plenty of coffee refills, including the offer of takeout coffee for the road, this comes to an amazing $53 so we leave a healthy tip and set off with very full tummies.















Its about 1pm now and Venice Beach is on the agenda. Connor wants to know if he can hire a surfboard , no chance . As we were to discover, you cant get anywhere quickly in LA, no matter what day of the week or time of day , its just damn busy all the time in every direction. So we hit lots of traffic and finally arrive at the Beach around 2pm courtesy of a few satnav circuits



I do find these signs slightly disturbing



The next challenge is to park which we do in some rip off lot at $25 but are just thankful to get out of the car and not be going round narrow one way streets avoiding cyclists, surfers and whatever the collective noun for beach bums is. Out of the whole beach ,which is miles long, we manage to have picked the bit that looks and smells like a public lavatory , probably due to the fact there is a massive Hari Krishna festival which is giving out free food, burning incense , making a lot of noise and taking up a lot of space. Its bedlam. In some ways its great as its very atmospheric but as someone who just doesn’t like crowds, its not my thing.





We go up to watch the skateboarders and decide to hit the beach. We see the Baywatch style lifeguards in action as they discourage people from being near the water that is red flagged . Andy goes off to have a wander. The boys declare it is far too hot to walk anywhere other than into the Sea and I am left to both mind the bags and watch the boys – which necessitates eyes in your head and backside to do both



the return of the arty bird shot



the boys discover the sand is quite hot



Any sign of the Hoff ?

[WileyCoyote]

oh, there's the Hoff, oh no , its only Andy





Does my bum look big in this ?







I don’t like them being in the water – its not shallow , has a strong tow and you end up out much further than you think – and Jamie is not a strong swimmer. So there is much waving, pointless shouting as they cant hear me, ungainly wading into the water and the boys generally thinking I am an over protective old crone who needs to loosen up a bit. Sigh, if only they truly were as invincible as they think they are.



On my side though, the water is bitingly cold so my ravings have given them an excuse to get out and to start to bury each other in the sand – which soon warms them up









Andy has returned and as its now just after 3pm we have had an hour on the beach. That’s about 58 minutes too many for me, but the boys are covered in sand and also want to get back to the hotel. I am instantly hopeful they might want to drop into Disney but no chance, they are after some Ipad time and then dinner out. In the end we get back around 4pm and spend a couple of hours at the pool.







It seems to take forever for them to get dressed to go out for dinner. Finally around 7.45 we are off to DTD to enjoy the sights and sounds .

[WileyCoyote]

We head to ESPN which is the furthest point away and you can sense a grump brewing but when we arrive its only a 10 minute wait and the boys are really impressed with the place. We are seated just as we have ordered our drinks and get a great spot in front of all the TVs, including coverage of the 100m semi finals. The food portions are huge. We have Pizza, chicken tenders, hot dog , Ribs, burger and I get a salad. Along with sodas and beers its $105 which is not bad for so much food, $120 with the tip We also had the cookie sundae which 3 of us shared – perhaps overkill as we all felt sick wobbling back to the hotel !





Sadly no food photos , it was very dark in ESPN and people were watching tvs so I didnt feel i could take any pics which is a shame as it was all very nice.

Well tomorrow, we finally get to Disney properly - YAY

Satnav sabotage count: multiple offences in the vicinity of Venice Beach, it was nearly buried in the sand. Now easily into double figures
Shopping count: shockingly poor. Not even a magnet for the fridge. Must try harder

[JudyC]

I'm really enjoying your trip reports Amanda I love the way you tell it

[Guest]

Lol another great day and shared with us readers so well I an practically feel the sand between my toes! Brilliant stuff Amanda!

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by JudyC

I'm really enjoying your trip reports Amanda I love the way you tell it

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Thanks, I must confess, I am having a little chuckle writing them !

Originally Posted by ppodangel

Lol another great day and shared with us readers so well I an practically feel the sand between my toes! Brilliant stuff Amanda!

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LOL, we had sand between our toes and other unmentionable parts I hate sand - I think we brought half of Typhoon Lagoon home in one of our cases - it just gets everywhere .Thanks for sticking with the trippy x

[ginger ninja]

Another great day Amanda, I dont do beaches either I would only be happy on a beach with an endless suppy of cocktails and a good read
loving your reports

[KarenG]

That was a long drive for an hour on the beach
We discovered Mimi's for the first time this trip - loved it!

We ate in ESPN too and found it reasonably priced, but belly busting

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by ginger ninja

Another great day Amanda, I dont do beaches either I would only be happy on a beach with an endless suppy of cocktails and a good read
loving your reports

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Hah, I missed out on the cocktails there didnt I ?

Originally Posted by KarenG

That was a long drive for an hour on the beach
We discovered Mimi's for the first time this trip - loved it!

We ate in ESPN too and found it reasonably priced, but belly busting

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Big thumbs up to the Dibb for recommending Mimis - its a great place - we stopped by again the next day - and we went to ESPN again too.

[orlandosgr8]

The beach looks lovely, but I know what you mean about the sand getting everywhere!